12.31.2016

Who would have guessed?

Here's What Happens When You Throw an iPhone Off the World's Tallest Building | TIME

SPOILER ALERT: It breaks.

https://goo.gl/NDxnof

If you can't avoid some work with this one you're just not trying

Here’s a link (it’s to Hulu, and possibly you can’t watch it without a subscription—if that’s so, sorry)—a link, I say, to a video of a roast, roasting. Just sitting there in an oven. Roasting. For about 50 minutes (which doesn’t seem like enough, so you might want to re-play it a time or two). 

So, if you have a Hulu subscription and get tired of doing things—like, for example, watching football—click here.

12.30.2016

Really? Is this even a question?

You Asked: Is It Better to Sleep In Or Work Out? | TIME

 

Some good pictures of a year to remember (or forget as soon as possible)

The Year in Pictures 2016 - The New York Times

[Noted by our Pacific Rim bureau.]

New app: Get kissed by Kissinger

‘Kissenger’ will let you send and get long-distance smooches - NY Daily News

 

26 henry kissinger w710 h473

 

How often do you get the chance?

Get finished freaking out about Donald Trump as soon as you can because here's what's coming next

Massive ‘anomaly’ lurks beneath ice in Antarctica | New York Post

“The wilder minds of the internet have come up with their own theories, with some conspiracy theorists claiming it could be a massive UFO base or a portal to a mysterious underworld called the Hollow Earth."

Apples. Bananas. Cinnamon.

It’s ridiculous what goes in oatmeal these days.

Here's how Samuel Johnson defined oats in 1755:

“A grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people.’"

http://bit.ly/2iMF811

 

 

It's twelve minutes, I say! Twelve!

Cops Called To Break Up Fight Between Denny's Workers Over A Hard-Boiled Egg | The Smoking Gun

"The cop learned that workers Nancy Michelle Kirkpatrick, 56, and Quanisha Dre’Shawn Fenn, 21, had 'got into an argument over a hard boiled egg.' During the squabble, Fenn said, Kirkpatrick called her a ‘bitch.' 'After that,' a cop reported, 'Ms. Fenn called her mother.'"

http://bit.ly/2iMwWOn

Well, not around here

Research: Why Americans Are So Impressed by Busyness

"We think that the shift from leisure-as-status to busyness-as-status may be linked to the development of knowledge-intensive economies…by telling others that we are busy and working all the time, we are implicitly suggesting that we are sought after, which enhances our perceived status."

12.29.2016

Homecoming



Getting on toward evening



Sleeping too much? We've got you covered.



We do get our money's worth from the defense industry now and then

Right now, in honor of our approaching blizzard, I'm wearing a pair of genuine Army wool boot socks that were issued to me at Ft. Dix, NJ, in December of 1961. You can do the math. I figure they're good for another decade or so (although one is developing a hole up near the top where it probably got yanked too hard one cold morning); after that, it's anybody's guess.

I'm not too worried about it because I have two more pairs.

They'd certainly unsettle me

German minister: ban names such as "vegetarian schnitzel"

"These terms are completely misleading and unsettle consumers," Agriculture Minister Christian Schmidt told Germany's Bild daily.

https://goo.gl/RyzFDz

Two days ago, I couldn't remember the last time I ate an oyster

But that's all changed now. I got a nice jar of fresh Chesapeake Bay standards for Christmas. What a treat. It's like taking a bite of the ocean.

With that and a couple of cans of Spam, I can ride out any storm. #LetItSnow

Wizard tries to turn phone to gold

Germany: chemical odors lead police to failed alchemist

"The woman went to police in Braubach, near the western city of Koblenz, on Wednesday, concerned that she hadn't seen her 28-year-old tenant for some time. Police said Thursday that officers found a range of chemicals, and at first suspected he was running an illegal drug lab."

https://goo.gl/l2jUZD

12.28.2016

Link rot

A little link rot (that's when the links no longer work) has insinuated itself into our Work Avoidance List. Our busy staff is constantly busy weeding out bad links (me, not so much).

If you run across a link that no longer works drop us a note or leave a comment and our tireless staff (me, not so much) will rapidly delete it, making way for more, newer and therefore, of course, better ways to accomplish as little as possible.

Finally (and just in time) some good news from 2016

Uber driver catches 240 green lights, a potential world record - NY Daily News

https://goo.gl/Qbe5nH

Forever may arrive too soon

If the heating company doesn't stop sending me so many bills I'm going to run out of Forever stamps some time in early 2018. Just giving you a heads up here.

Unless, of course, we can make the climate a little warmer, in which case we might be able to stretch the stamps out another year or so.

It's too soon to give up hope.

12.27.2016

Ouch

Team Hillary lands on ‘least influential’ list after election debacle | New York Post

"Hillary Clinton, Anthony Weiner and Tim Kaine have been named to GQ’s 'Least Influential People Of 2016’ list, the men’s magazine announced Thursday."

What a difference a day makes…

…a few hours less than a day, actually. The toilet is all rebuilt with sturdy brass fittings and flushing merrily, the water around it totally mopped up, another holiday disaster survived, and all is once again well here in our unremittingly pleasant valley.

Sadly, however, all the Valentine's Day stuff is not yet installed on the shelves of the local drugstore, leaving the place looking somewhat disturbingly out of time, but we are assured that in only a day or so there will be no more trace of the jolly elf, and Cupid everywhere.. And then, Spring is right around the corner, and from all around the strains of that old, July carol, "Hot Dogs Roasting on an Open Fire."

It won't be so dark so early, either.

Why do people persist in this outrageous behavior?

30 of the Most Iconic and Influential Photos of All Time Colorized - TIME

https://goo.gl/9sOjUO

12.26.2016

Our nomination for work avoidance web site of the year, 2016

please.do.not.disturb.me

Hey, everybody else is doing a “best of” piece. Why not us?

Guy shows completely unusable information in almost totally unreadable form…

Disproportionately Common Names By Profession

…and gets featured in The Best American Infographics 2015.

Imagine the worst.

But nobody says it's good

What psychologists really think about you lying to your kids about Santa - The Washington Post

"Psychologists argue about the effect of the Santa myth on kids, with some saying it is benign and others saying it is harmful."

A couple of shrinky types named "Christopher Boyle, a psychologist at the University of Exeter, and Kathy McKay, a mental health researcher at Australia’s University of New England [How much confidence does that give you? New England is nowhere near Australia.], write that the myth of Santa Claus affects children in ways that may not have been considered — and that it can undermine the trust of children in their parents,” continues the Post.

The Huffington Post, somewhat predictably, is all tweaked out about it here.

We need better shrinks.

And this. (We mentioned it yesterday.)

I don’t mind the cold; cold, schmold

I don't mind the snow, either; snow, schmow. But I'm a walker and I hate the ice. Ice makes everything miserable. Ice; bad.

It's 50º at O'Hare this morning, says the Chicago radio. Here where I am there's a warmish (high 40's) day that's been hanging out there one day ahead of us in the forecasts for a week. The weather app, today, says tomorrow. I say, maybe May.

But would be so nice, wouldn't it, to get some of this slippery stuff melted off I'll keep rooting for tomorrow as long as it takes.

12.25.2016

The Ghost of Christmas Present


Today in Christmas Mythology

XKCD

“Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus”

Here’s the classic Christmas editorial from the Sept. 21, 1897, issue of the New York Sun…

“Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus” | Newseum

Way to rub it in, Washington Post

These Redskins have never known easy, but they know they're still alive - The Washington Post

"CHICAGO — It was easy, and the Washington Redskins didn't know how to react to that. They have an exasperating addiction to drama, participating in affairs that exaggerate NFL parity, but for once they encountered a game that even they could not keep close. And they actually had to come to terms with this mysterious outcome."

https://goo.gl/9627Vy